454 BULLETIN 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Sclater^" considers 'paUidior Jackson ^^ and nigrimentimh Salva- 

 dor! ^'^ as synonyms of chamvosyTia. Van Someren " recognizes 

 paMdior. If this form were valid the present specimens from south 

 of Malele and from the Tana Kiver would, on geographic grounds, 

 have to be called by Jackson's name, but they are matched very 

 closely by specimens from southern Ethiopia. It seems, therefore, 

 that Sclater's conclusion is the correct one. Lonnberg'^* recorded 

 specimens from the Northern Guaso Nyiro Kiver as E. charmosyna 

 and did not mention paUidior. 



This species and E. erythronotos are very closely allied and would 

 undoubtedly be considered one specific group were it not for the 

 fact that the two occur together in southern Kenya Colony and 

 northern Tanganyika Territory. 



There are two races of the red-rumped waxbill — the typical one, 

 of the southern half of Ethiopia, Somaliland, and Turkanaland, 

 south to the Northern Guaso Nyiro River and the eastern portions 

 of the Tana River ; and kiwanukae van Someren, of southern Kenya 

 Colony from the Loita Plains and the Taveta area south to Dodoma 

 in north-central Tanganyika Territory. The latter form has the 

 underparts, especially the abdomen, darker, more grayish, and the 

 light bars on the wings more whitish, than in the nominate race. 



The specimens taken in December, April, and May are in worn 

 plumage ; the July birds are partly in worn, partly in fresh feather- 

 ing; a male taken on July 29 and a female, August 16, show signs 

 of molt in the tail. The size variations of the present series are 

 as follows: Males — wing, 49-53.5 (average, 51.2) ; tail, 53-61 (57.6) ; 

 culmen, 8.5-10 (8.8) ; tarsus, 12.5-14 (13.1 mm). Females — wing, 

 49-52.5 (50.8) ; tail, 54-55 (54.3) ; culmen, 8.5-9 (8.8) ; tarsus, 13-14 

 (13.5 mm). 



Shelley ^^ has summarized most of what is known of this bird, 

 which is little indeed. Since then, Ogilvie-Grant '^^ has recorded 

 it from Lake Zwai and from Lake Rudolf and writes that it "appears 

 to be a rare bird and is seldom procured." The present specimens 

 extend the known range southward a good distance and nearly 

 double the number of specimens on record. The bird seems to be 

 more numerous in northern Kenya Colony than in Ethiopia. Mearns 

 made the following entries concerning it in his notebooks: Anole, 



'" Systema avium Jl^ltbiopicarum, pt. 2, p. 802, 1930. 



'1 Bull. Brit. Orn. Club, vol. 27, p. 6, 1910 : Northern Guaso Nyiro River. 

 ■"Anu. Mus. Civ. Genova, vol. 26, p. 281. 1888: Farre, Shoa. 



'3 Nov. Zool., vol. 29, p. 164, 1922 ; and Jouni. East Africa and Uganda Nat. Hist. Soc, 

 no. 35, p. 59 (135), 1930. 



'*Kongl. Svenska Vot.-Akad. Handl., 1911, p. 106. 

 " The birds of Africa, vol. 4, pp. 232-233, 1905. 

 '«Ibis, 1913, p. 571. 



